Medicinal Plants used for Tea, Mycological and Mycotoxicological Potential

Abstract

Mycotoxins are food contaminants with significant impact on the food industry and consumer health. Fumonisins and aflatoxins are important groups of mycotoxins, which represent secondary metabolites produced by fungi of the genera Fusarium and Aspergillus respectively.The study was conducted on a total of 10 samples of herbal teas sold in stores and the level of aflatoxin and fumonizine content was measured. For mycotoxicological examination test RIDASCREEN®FAST Aflatoxin and RIDASCREEN®FAST Fumonisin were used, as well as competitive enzyme immunoassay tests for the quantitative determination of total aflatoxin and fumonisins in cereals and food.Following the mycological examination, a high fungal load was found in 4 samples: rosehip tea (7.818 colony forming-unit (CFU)/g), sweet basil tea 118.636 (CFU)/g), black tea (192.272 CFU/g) and common nettle tea (204.545 CFU/g). Mycetes genus identified was Fusarium and the mycotic load surpassed by large the maximum admitted level of 100 CFU/g (Order 27/2011 ANSVSA).Concerning the total aflatoxins, a number of 7 samples (70%) exceeded the maximum level for total aflatoxins imposed by EU legislation (10 ppb), 3 samples exceeding even 100 ppb value, with a maximum of 437.17 ppb and an average of 109.21 ppb.Values of fumonisins were comprised between 0,046 ppm and 21,93 ppm. With the exception of St. John’s wort tea, whose value of 21,93 ppm has largely exceeded the limits imposed by the European Legislation of 4 ppm, the remaining 9 samples were within the normal values.